Sunday, 14 April 2013

Kid Art - To keep or to bin?

Every parent has been there at some point... What to do with your little angel's masterpieces?

Should you devote a room in the house to them?
Bin them as soon as they arrive?
Make a photo scrapbook for them and put the originals 'in storage' (generally meaning they're being stored at a recycling facility).
Or maybe an entire wall? The above photo comes out of Vogue and sure looks lovely!

It's a real dilemma... And becoming more of a problem in our household as Sera is starting to bud into a little VanGogh. Here's some strategies we've used or tested:

Last holiday season we used quite a bit of Sera's art as homemade wrapping paper. It went over very well so we've continued the trend through to birthday, new baby, and housewarming gifts as well.
There's an app for all you iPhone users that hopes to resolve the problem of archiving the kids' work, Artkive. I haven't personally been able to use it because the whole idea is to take photos of the artwork and then get rid of them. it has lots of options to add the date and to use for more than one kid but what ended up happening in my case was i still couldn't bring myself to throwing the originals. I've effectively managed to double the problem!
Letting the little one be creative digitally. This strategy works because kids are fast learners and can figure out a way to be creative in almost any form, you can stored loads of digital info nowadays without losing precious square meters in your apartment and its mess-free. It does have its downside as well. No computer or iPad program could ever compare with the delight children feel when they've actually created something they can see and touch. That's why parents for generations have been investing in fridge magnets for prime display positions in the house. I think that digital artwork should be a compliment to and not a replacement for finger paints, potato stamps, wax crayons, craft glue with tissue paper and rainbow coloured markers.

What about you dear readers.... Have you got any creative ways to display, preserve, store or filter your kids works? Do tell!